Gas generators for the home [MERGED]

i have a 10k briggs and stratton home standby with auto transfer and hooked up to the natural gas line. when the power goes out it automatically goes on and when the power comes back on it automatically shuts off.

it is the best investment money can buy. i highly recommend the natural gas for fuel if it is available, you never have to worry about it.

during hurricane sandy the gas stations by me were low/out of gas for weeks and everyone with a gasoline powered generator had to wait on 5 hour long lines to get a few gallons.

the generator, gas line, electric work and installation came to about $5,000.

Huntn said:

I'm currently working on deciding how many watts I need. Watts equals amps x volts. I believe, the tricky part is that the start up load must also be considered. At Lowes they had a chart that showed a fridge at 2200 watts. My Sears fridge is labeled as 6.5 full load amps which only comes to 747 watts (6.5 x 115v) so I'm wondering if I'm understanding this correctly?

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Locked Rotor Amp (LRA), also called Locked Rotor Current, is the spec for current required to start the motor, which is sometimes found printed on the motor nameplate and probably less often on the refrigerator's nameplate.

I'm not sure how long your power goes out for at a time but I've opted for a different method. Both of my vehicles are equipped with inverters. They are inexpensive and give me power outlets when I need them out and about. In the event of a power outage, I break out the orange cords.

My Lincoln Navigator has to be running when I'm drawing power for it. But rather than a generator which has to be purchased and maintained, I'm just drawing juice off the car. Now, my Toyota Prius on the other hand is a hybrid. With the inverter that I have I can draw 2,000 watts off of the primary battery (there are ones that go up to 3,000 watts for a Prius). The engine (generator) only cranks up when needed to recharge the primary battery.

Last winter we were out of power for over three days. Friday through Monday. A little ice snapped some poles and our EMC was overwhelmed. We ran our refrigerator, freezer, television, laptops, network, etc. for the three days (refrigerator and freezer not at the same time). We even used a coffee maker a few times.

Another advantage of having these directly wired 2,000 watt inverters is that if I need power out in the back acreage, the lake or at the park, I've got it. Great for recharging computers on trips. Most likely you already have a vehicle. Why not look at an inverter rather than a generator which you have to purchase and maintain.

TYPICAL WATTAGES OF VARIOUS APPLIANCES
Here are some examples of the range of nameplate wattages for various household appliances:
Aquarium = 50–1210 Watts
Clock radio = 10
Coffee maker = 900–1200
Clothes washer = 350–500
Clothes dryer = 1800–5000
Dishwasher = 1200–2400 (using the drying feature greatly increases energy consumption)
Dehumidifier = 785
Electric blanket (Single/Double) = 60 / 100
Fans
Ceiling = 65–175
Window = 55–250
Furnace = 750
Whole house = 240–750
Hair dryer = 1200–1875
Heater (portable) = 750–1500
Clothes iron = 1000–1800
Microwave oven = 750–1100
Personal computer
CPU - awake / asleep = 120 / 30 or less
Monitor - awake / asleep = 150 / 30 or less
Laptop = 50
Radio (stereo) = 70–400
Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet) = 725
Televisions (color)
19" = 65–110
27" = 113
36" = 133
53" - 61" Projection = 170
Flat screen = 120
Toaster = 800–1400
Toaster oven = 1225
VCR/DVD = 17–21 / 20–25
Vacuum cleaner = 1000–1440
Water heater (40 gallon) = 4500–5500
Water pump (deep well) = 250–1100
Water bed (with heater, no cover) = 120–380

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Southern Dad said:

I'm not sure how long your power goes out for at a time but I've opted for a different method. Both of my vehicles are equipped with inverters. They are inexpensive and give me power outlets when I need them out and about. In the event of a power outage, I break out the orange cords.

My Lincoln Navigator has to be running when I'm drawing power for it. But rather than a generator which has to be purchased and maintained, I'm just drawing juice off the car. Now, my Toyota Prius on the other hand is a hybrid. With the inverter that I have I can draw 2,000 watts off of the primary battery (there are ones that go up to 3,000 watts for a Prius). The engine (generator) only cranks up when needed to recharge the primary battery.

Last winter we were out of power for over three days. Friday through Monday. A little ice snapped some poles and our EMC was overwhelmed. We ran our refrigerator, freezer, television, laptops, network, etc. for the three days (refrigerator and freezer not at the same time). We even used a coffee maker a few times.

Another advantage of having these directly wired 2,000 watt inverters is that if I need power out in the back acreage, the lake or at the park, I've got it. Great for recharging computers on trips. Most likely you already have a vehicle. Why not look at an inverter rather than a generator which you have to purchase and maintain.

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You can't run a whole house off a car.

richwoodrocket said:

You can't run a whole house off a car.

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Ran mine for three days without a problem. It all depends on what you want to run at one time. You just have to remember to do your math.

Southern Dad said:

... Why not look at an inverter rather than a generator which you have to purchase and maintain.

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Your list of TYPICAL WATTAGES OF VARIOUS APPLIANCES was designed to allow consumers to figure the approximate cost of running an appliance. This list is not intended to be used to determine the max current a given appliance will draw.

As the page you referenced notes: "When measuring the current drawn by a motor, note that the meter will show about three times more current in the first second that the motor starts than when it is running smoothly."

In other words, you could end up overheating an inverter and possibly causing a house fire, etc. if you relied on the data contained on your list.

This Link might be more appropriate since it's Honda's wattage estimator page on their generator site.

adk said:

This Link might be more appropriate since it's Honda's wattage estimator page on their generator site.

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Trying to use even a 2000 watt inverter off a car is just a bad idea, if you want to supply even 1000 watts continuously. Most car alternators produce about 700 watts max, at a high engine RPM. The typical car alternator is designed to charge a battery, not to supply enough power to run several household appliances. You'd probably end up taxing the car's alternator and its battery, reducing their lifespan. If you want to run more than a 300 watt inverter, you really should wire it to the car's battery directly, using very heavy wiring.

The AC outlets in your home supply a very pure 60 cycle sine wave, while most inverters only produce a waveform that's only roughly close to being a pure sine wave. Oh, the inverter may be able to run your refrigerator, but you'll probably reduce the lifespan of the AC induction motor in that refrigerator by doing so.

You could replace or supplement your car's alternator with a high-voltage replacement, that's able to deliver high power at a lower engine RPM, and wire in a 2nd battery, and buy a high-end inverter that's able to produce a very clean, pure sine wave output, etc. But it would usually be cheaper just to buy a generator.

To the OP, I do not have a specific generator suggestion for you, but I do have three points of advice I would share.

* generator maintenance
* fuel choices
* sound
*

maintenance - Once you figure out which generator meets your needs, and you purchase it and get it home, it will need maintenance, just like your pool does. Make a plan to start it and check for correct operation, replace worn parts, perform maintenance on a regular basis. The worst time to find out your generator has failed you is when you need it the most.

Fuel choice - a generator with no fuel is like trying to protect yourself with a firearm that has no bullets. For your generator to be of value to you, you will need to store fuel for it. Gasoline has never stored well long term, and the current ethanol laced fuels that many are forced to use are even worse. Diesel stores much longer than regular gasoline. You will need to watch it to make sure you don't end up with algae growing. Propane and Natural gas can be stored much longer. There are also multi-fuel generators, but that is beyond a standard forum post.

noise/sound - by burning fuel, by their very nature, a generator can not be indoors. Many times, during natural disasters, such as you describe, not only are people outside after the danger has passed, but it is much quieter due to no power to run anything, no cars or aircraft, etc. The (possible) noise from your generator will create at least two possible concerns. First, resentment from others in your neighborhood who are not as prepared as you were. Second, from thief's who would steal from you if you aren't there to watch your generator 24*7. Keep your sound levels as low as possible, lest your generator disappear in the middle of the night.

food for thought.

Hope this helps.

After a month without power (exactly 9 years ago) following hurricane Katrina, we decided never again, and invested in a whole house Generac. Best insurance ever, since we haven't had a storm since (knock wood!).

It works like a champ, and comes on almost instantly during the regular power outages we suffer here during regular rain storms. It's currently hooked up to gas, but we're considering getting a small oil drum just to power it in case the gas should go again. They actually shut the gas after Katrina because there were so many fires.

localoid said:

Locked Rotor Amp (LRA), also called Locked Rotor Current, is the spec for current required to start the motor, which is sometimes found printed on the motor nameplate and probably less often on the refrigerator's nameplate.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I'll try to nail that down.

Southern Dad said:

I'm not sure how long your power goes out for at a time but I've opted for a different method. Both of my vehicles are equipped with inverters. They are inexpensive and give me power outlets when I need them out and about. In the event of a power outage, I break out the orange cords.

My Lincoln Navigator has to be running when I'm drawing power for it. But rather than a generator which has to be purchased and maintained, I'm just drawing juice off the car. Now, my Toyota Prius on the other hand is a hybrid. With the inverter that I have I can draw 2,000 watts off of the primary battery (there are ones that go up to 3,000 watts for a Prius). The engine (generator) only cranks up when needed to recharge the primary battery.

Last winter we were out of power for over three days. Friday through Monday. A little ice snapped some poles and our EMC was overwhelmed. We ran our refrigerator, freezer, television, laptops, network, etc. for the three days (refrigerator and freezer not at the same time). We even used a coffee maker a few times.

Another advantage of having these directly wired 2,000 watt inverters is that if I need power out in the back acreage, the lake or at the park, I've got it. Great for recharging computers on trips. Most likely you already have a vehicle. Why not look at an inverter rather than a generator which you have to purchase and maintain.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm in the process of adding up wattages. I suspect the car wont be enough. I'm looking to power a fridge, tv, small wall ac unit, and a 3HP pool electric pump. I believe the tough part is figuring out the start up load. Once I get this info I'll report back.

I still think a person should think about how often they will use it and the cost to buy it plus maintaining it. I agree that each vehicle is different and using a vehicle with an inverter will only provide limited power. The question comes down to what items do you actually need to power to weather the the outage.

Of course, this is one of the advantages of a hybrid vehicle, such as the Prius. They are able to provide better than 2,000 watts without a problemm.

At my cabin in Gilmer County, GA we have a generator. Since I do not go to the cabin often the generator isn't used nearly as much as it should be. We had a problem with the diesel fuel last time we were up. There are generators that operate on diesel, gasoline or even natural gas. Each have their advantages and disadvantages.

This is going to take some research on your part for the best solution for you. Another thing to consider is your heat. Do you have another way to heat your home aside from electricity?

kevo1011 said:

http://m.lowes.com/pd_494338-24212-6258_0__?productId=4774799

My pick if unlimited budget. 20kw. Will run whole house if wired correctly and with natural gas you don't have to worry about refueling. It has propane back up if needed.

I've seen other forums that put it at about $8000 totoal after install.

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My inlaws have this, a Generac, gas line. They live on an unbridged island. Its fully automatic, lose power every little storm. And other times randomly.

Power goes out, 15-30secs, everything comes back online. Very slick.

Generator Recommendations

I live in Houston and we just got hit with a whopper of a flood. Luckily, I never lost power for a second, but almost 80K people did. Hurricane season is starting next week, so I thought it would be a good idea to purchase a generator, just to be safe, especially with 2 kiddos in the house.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a generator that could just power the essentials of my house? How many watts would be sufficient? I know nothing about them, and would like to be somewhat informed before I go shopping.

Thanks in advance for all of the advice!

Moyank24 said:

I live in Houston and we just got hit with a whopper of a flood. Luckily, I never lost power for a second, but almost 80K people did. Hurricane season is starting next week, so I thought it would be a good idea to purchase a generator, just to be safe, especially with 2 kiddos in the house.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a generator that could just power the essentials of my house? How many watts would be sufficient? I know nothing about them, and would like to be somewhat informed before I go shopping.

Thanks in advance for all of the advice!

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many factors come into play. How big is your house? What are you looking to keep going if the power goes out? central air, refrigerators, microwave?

I like Briggs and Stratton ... hasn't failed me once (knock on wood) and have had it for about 3 years.

Other factors include ... do you have natural gas? propane? do you want a portable gasoline generator?

I would recommend a natural gas home standby with an automatic transfer switch.

It automatically comes on when the power goes out and automatically turns off when the power comes back.

http://www.briggsandstratton.com/us...erator-systems/products?category=Home+Standby

i think 10kW should be able to run most, if not all of your house (unless you have a mansion).
If you want just the essentials then 8kW should be fine.

A unit around 5,000 watts will be enough to run your fridge, a small window air conditioner, a few light bulbs, and a TV/DVD player.

Remember that you'll need a lot of gas to run your generator - I'd budget about 10-12 gallons per day to run a 5,000 watt generator.

After being without power for almost a month following Katrina, we got a Generac. It has already paid for itself between flash floods, and just typical monsoon season on the gulf coast. We figured out what were the minimum we would want powered, and worked from there.

So the Generac covers the fridge, two window a/c units, internet, microwave, coffee pot, and lights. (I can't remember for sure, but I don't believe it covers the washing machine.)

they cost like 10k

If you want a standby unit that's always connected and ready to go, the installer should ask you what you need/want to run and figure the size based on that, they will also hook up the needed circuits to the transfer switch during installation.

My parents have a 5500 watt unit that's a "portable". When they had their electric service upgraded they had a circuit put in that they can hook up the generator to to run the house. I think it's a dual 30-amp circuit. When I've run it for them, I kill the air handler breakers so the central air won't try to run and the generator handles the load just fine. They have 2 fridge/freezer units and a chest freezer. The TV and network equipment also run fine though the cable system doesn't work during power outages. They have hot water heating, not forced air (the air handler is JUST A/C upstairs), and that also runs fine on the generator.

I'm not saying don't get the standby with auto-switch, but you can get what you need on a budget also. If A/C is something you NEED to run, the standby may be your best option due to the load from the compressor.

Honda.

My parents have a portable 5000w Honda generator from the (early 90's). It spent the ~10 or so years of its life at my parent's house, and the latter at their summer house on the water. Despite the moist, salty air that ruins everything, this thing has never had an issue.

In the late 90's my parents built a house and installed a commercial grade Kohler standby generator. It's big. Really big. I forget the wattage- 20,000? It runs the entire house though. It's a big house, central air, pool, multiple refrigerators, dryer, dishwasher, etc. The only non-electric appliances are the stove (natural gas) and furnaces (oil). There are a couple areas of the house heated with electric and radiant heating (fluid pumps). The generator came in handy a few years ago when CT got that blizzard on Halloween and they didn't have power for 8 days. They live in a wooded area, so power outages are not out of the question during storms. It too has been very reliable.

Kohler makes smaller standby generators as well. I've heard good things about Generac. My uncle is an electrical engineer (and so happens to be a master electrician on the side) and he recommends the 3 brands I mentioned.

I'd be afraid to buy a cheap no-name generator. I know people who have and have had trouble finding parts. They've also ordered parts/manuals only to find out their model# does match the company's specifications.

I use two different Multiquip Whisperwatt generators on my tour, a 10Kw and a bunch of 7Kw's. The 10K is significantly quieter than the 7K models. Trust me, after listening to them running for a full day noise will matter! The 10K also has a significantly bigger fuel tank, allowing it to run about 10 hours longer than the 7K, even with more than twice the load on it.

They require a new fuel filter after every 100 hours of use, it's an easy swap and NAPA usually has them in stock. Oil and filter every 300 hours, again, easy to get at NAPA. A generator does need to be fired up on occasion, just like a car. The longest mine sit are about two months and they seem fine.

By the way, pretty good discussion on generator last year, coincidentally also from a Houstonian:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1768872/

I got myself a portable generator last year. A 10kw peak 8Kw continuous unit.

I went portable just in case I ever need to loan it to a friend or take it somewhere with me.

I did opt to get a Motorsnorkel conversion kit for it. This allows me to run the genny on gasoline, propane, or natural gas. I had the natural gas line extended last year to my house so that when the genny is at home I will never have to worry about filling the gas tank.

Moyank24 said:

I live in Houston and we just got hit with a whopper of a flood. Luckily, I never lost power for a second, but almost 80K people did. Hurricane season is starting next week, so I thought it would be a good idea to purchase a generator, just to be safe, especially with 2 kiddos in the house.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a generator that could just power the essentials of my house? How many watts would be sufficient? I know nothing about them, and would like to be somewhat informed before I go shopping.

Thanks in advance for all of the advice!

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Funny you should mention this as I am currently investigating the best way to go. I'm considering a Generac 7000 watt unit with the intent of running my fridge, a small window AC, and possible the TV and/or pool pump. It runs $1000.

The trick is to make this work conviently you either have to have some long extension cords, or set up your CB panel with a plug and verify it has a main shutoff to isolate it from the grid. With that, if you have turned off everything in your house except what you want to power. With the latter, you can simply plug it into your CB Panel and use your houses wiring to power want you want. And as mentioned, you'll need about 10 gallons of gas per day. Plan on having 4-6 5 gallon containers to fill with gas. Keep in mind, usually for events like hurricanes which are more of a concern along the coast, certain areas will get their power before others. There, you may end up driving 10-20 miles to get your gas. The last hurricane to hit Houston, some places were without power for a week. Some friends had such a set up and basked in relative luxury while their friends suffered, when they were not hanging out at their house.

Another observation, the city will restore certain grids before others giving priority to police and fire departments. If you live in such a grid, you'll be among the first to have power restored. One other thing, if you have a generator, you should run it periodically, and don't keep gas in it unless you plan on running it and don't store gas for long periods of time. After an event passes, put that gas in you car.

adk said:

A unit around 5,000 watts will be enough to run your fridge, a small window air conditioner, a few light bulbs, and a TV/DVD player.

Remember that you'll need a lot of gas to run your generator - I'd budget about 10-12 gallons per day to run a 5,000 watt generator.

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I'm trying to figure out how to add this up. I know that watts= amps x volts (I think). The tricky part people may not consider is the start up load of something like a fridge or AC unit.

AlliFlowers said:

After being without power for almost a month following Katrina, we got a Generac. It has already paid for itself between flash floods, and just typical monsoon season on the gulf coast. We figured out what were the minimum we would want powered, and worked from there.

So the Generac covers the fridge, two window a/c units, internet, microwave, coffee pot, and lights. (I can't remember for sure, but I don't believe it covers the washing machine.)

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What size?

Adolf said:

they cost like 10k

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This would be a top of the line, whole house generator, one that runs on natural gas. Even in the realm of whole house generators, they can be purchased for around $4-5k. There are much less expensive viable options available.